Assisted Hatching Of Macaw With Hatching Sequence Pics!!!!!!!!

[pete55]

Hi there Adrian

Thanks for the comments. If I remember the membrane did seem rather rubbery so I think it it probably had'nt lost sufficient moisture. It seemed a little weak but on hatching it was a good weight, about 25gms. Once it hatched and dired it was a straight forward rearing process.

Our pair of Blue and Golds laid their first eggon the 24th

Expecting them to start hatching from about 17th April (usually 23/24 days incubation) if they're fertile

Pete

 

[jenlynn4]

I really enjoyed this post! Thank you...I loves seeing that little nekkid baby! Hard to believe that little thing turns into a HUGE beautiful bird!

 

[sonjab314]

I used to breed parrots many years ago and it warms my heart to see babies. I forgot just how cute and helpless they really are. Yours turned into a beautiful bird.

 

[pete55]

Thanks everyone. I've just posted a similar thread about Rheas if you're interested

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=472825

Pete

 

[perolane]

Fascinating...thanks!!

 

[beckim5]

Amazing! Thanks for sharing!

 

[adrian]

Congratulations on your B&Gs having eggs! If you have any tips as to how to breed/raise macaws... I would be very happy to hear them. Won't be very soon that I get into that, but it's something I definitely want to do in the future. Such as... Where do you keep your breeding pairs? What sorts of cages is best for them? My conures are in the house, in a double flight cage which gives them quite a bit of room. Giving the equivalent to macaws would be very large indeed. I imagine it's not an inexpensive thing to endeavour on whatsoever, but that's to be expected. Assuming you handfeed, which formula do you use and why do you prefer it? In my opinion there are no good formulas available locally so I have to order mine from the U.S... Ah the things we do for birds.

 

[bunnibird55]

Thanks for the great pix and info! I used to raise conures and tiels but I never helped any out of the eggs - mama did that and then I took over hand-feeding with a spoon. Had some of the nicest, tamest babies around! Hand feeding five times a day is tough when you have a full-time job away from home! Hope you post pix once the B&G's hatch!

 

[pete55]

We will post about the Blue and Golds but dont expect anything until Easter. Adrian I'll give you a PM with Macaw details

At the moment Im running an incubation diary for Dewlap Toulouse eggs on the following thread;

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=6002937#p6002937

 

[adrian]

Hey, Pete,

Many apologies if this is hijacking your thread, but because I have a nanday conure egg hatching as I speak, I decided to get a picture of an internal pip and post it to show a) the positioning of the beak and b) the size of the air cell, which is dramatic. The draw down was very fast, as it always is, and the air cell grew alarmingly fast. Which is a good sign. If you look closely, you can see slight pencil marks on the right side of the air cell. The lowest one is the size of the air cell prior to draw down.

Interestingly, with this egg, the baby actually externally pipped during draw down. I believe it was spasming and hit its beak against the shell a little roughly. It was below the air cell because the baby was still getting into hatching position, but no harm was done. I have had this happen in the past. I wonder whether it is because the humidity is just a touch too low, and thus the space and the oxygen available to the baby runs out a little too fast. As it was incubated in the nest box, I had no ability to monitor humidity. The humidity in our house is variable but I'd say it's around 30% most days, if not lower, probably with spikes no higher than 50%. About 40-45% is ideal for smaller eggs from what I've heard and experienced. In any case, this is the picture: